Jorge Cardozo

Jorge Cardozo, Colombia
Full-Time MBA Class of 2020
LinkedIn

Academic Roles, Achievements and Activities

Graduated in Finance in Colombia.

What is invisible but essential about YOU? or ESADE? or Barcelona?

Isn’t it interesting?… life? And the way it works? Let me tell you a story. Some of you might think or say it is a sad story. I don’t.

When I was 9, I was raped. Yes, I was raped. It was a Saturday morning. My mom had taken me to my acting classes as she used to do every week. The teacher had asked us to bring some books to get ideas to put on a play. I knocked the door and a girl opened it. “There is no class today”- she said. As soon as I turned to look for my mom, I noticed that she was leaving. I run but the bag was too heavy, so I dropped it. I couldn’t reach her. When I came back for my bag, it was gone. There were three people at the other side of the street and one guy in the same side I was. I asked the three people if they knew anything about my bag, but no one answered. When I asked the guy he replied “Are you Jorge? I know who took your bag”. After that, the guy took me far and then… well you already know what happened.

Whenever I go back to that moment, I can only see blurred memories… blood, a lot of trees… fear. I was confused. Then the fear became sadness, and after the sadness came the rage. I was furious… to life, but most importantly to God. I couldn’t keep a question out of my head. How could this even happen to a nine-year old boy? How is this even fair? Then at some point I couldn’t recognise myself in all this rage. But eventually everything just changed.

It took me a while to understand, but I found happiness again. I decided to go out and read about religions to try to understand the reason behind it. In this search I found Buddhism. This for me was one of the most revealing truths in life. I felt connected. I felt understood. Did you even know that pain is one of the main promises of Buddhism? I told you it was not a sad story.

In that moment I decided to start a spiritual path in which I firmly believe that the most important thing in life that really matters is to be kind, to be good, but most importantly to forgive and let the anger go.

Today, I am telling you this story because I don’t feel ashamed anymore. It was an accident. Today, I feel I have the strength enough to tell this and let other people know that they are not alone, either, if they are men or women. Do not let these things change who you are. Take the time to feel, to heal and to come back stronger than ever. Do not let yourself feel hate for someone. It is not worth it.